Population Health Is Focus Of Joint Venture
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
The collaboration aims to further develop Health Connect network technology in New York.
Newport Health Solutions, LLC and the North Shore-LIJ Health System have announced the creation of a joint venture designed to further develop and commercialize Health Connect, Newport Health’s population and network management platform. North Shore-LIJ is one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States, and Newport Health provides connectivity, information platforms, and related professional services to hospitals, physicians, and managed care organizations.
Health Connect provides “a powerful and innovative approach to population health that allows for continuity of care, better coordination among healthcare providers and increased patient touch points,” according to MarketWatch. Through Health Connect, administrators, doctors, and clinical staff can track and manage the growth of their network while increasing utilization and strengthening their strategic positions in the marketplace.
North Shore-LIJ already has a strategic alliance in place with Hackensack University Medical Center and Maimonides Medical Center and has been carefully expanding its reach. The new venture creates a new company that will be charged with further development of Health Connect in order to implement it at other third-party hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide.
Health Connect is already in use at LIJ’s Lenox Hill Hospital. The population health management tool can be integrated with most EHRs and is designed to provide better connection between physicians and hospitals in order to meet interoperability goals.
As the healthcare model transitions from fee-for-service to value-based care models, demand for population health tools has been growing. Recently, CHRISTUS Health, an international, Catholic, non-for-profit health system expanded its partnership with Wellcentive in order to deliver solutions and service for value-based care and population health management (PHM) throughout its operations in the United States, as Health IT Outcomes reported.
As George Conklin, senior vice president and CIO, CHRISTUS Health, observed, “There are major changes ahead for the healthcare industry. Enabling technologies that provide for effective care management across our communities will be critical to our success in providing high quality care to the people we serve.”